Ananasi Errata and Clarifications
The Ananasi are quite different from the other shapeshifters, and with a number of unique features. This combined with numerous rule changes and multiple bookWTA: 20th Anniversary Edition (W20)WTA: Changing Breeds (CB20)WTA: Player's Guide (2nd Edition)WTA: Players' Guide to the Changing BreedsWTA: Breedbook AnanasiMET: Laws of the Wild: Changing Breeds: 3, there are a quite a lot of things to clarify. CB20 has been used as the deciding factor when sources are in conflict. Animal attraction: '''Despite their cooler nature, Ananasi can be just as, if not even more of, sexual predators than the Garou (the rules are identical as for Garou in W20, but in older edition the difficulty depended on the user's own Rage, so Ananasi were instead given difficulty 4). '''Equality: As a hole, the Ananasi culture is actually not dominated by women, but is rather very equal between the genders, and not a few Ananasi are transgender, or does not view themselves as one particular sex, but rather as something in between, or shifting back and forth (requires a Merit). Health Healing: Ananasi heal both as normal humans, and can heal themselves by spending blood. Lost limbs can also be healed but will take a weak, and is painful. Ananasi with lots of blood in their system, and who easily can get lot more can actually heal aggravated damage much faster than other shapeshifters, and can theoretically come back from aggravated damage that have brought them Incapacitated to full health in a single 24 hour period, but without blood, they can only heal as ordinary humans do. Illnesses and toxins: '''Due to their lack or regeneration Ananasi are actually just as receptacle to toxins and illnesses as ordinary humans. They may however purge such things from their system by healing themselves with blood, but that might take large quantities, and hunting for blood is not east for someone who is ill. So it does happen that Ananasi die from sickness. '''Battle scars: As Ananasi lack Rage and do not regenerate, they do not have the option to try to remain active through wounds that would incapacitate or kill them, and so, they have no "normal" way to suffer battle scars. If an Ananasi through some strange circumstance still should suffer such, it would not award her any Renown. An Ananasi with the Gift Mother's Touch may still try to heal a battle scar in the same way as other Fera. Forms and Shape shifting The forms of the Ananasi are unique among shapeshifters. Forms: '''At the Storyteller's discretion male Ananasi in Lilian and Pithus may be smaller and physically weaker, but more nimble, than their female counterparts. This is to reflect this dimorphism in most types of spiders. Crawlerling form is not affected by this in game mechanics, though may be reflected in the individual sizes of the composing spiders. The rare Araneid (requires the level 2 general Gift Man-Spider Form) is also not affected. Dimorphism was omitted from Player's Guide to the Changing Breeds and CB20. The following table have this dimorphism in the same way as in Breedbook Ananasi, but for the updated attribute modifiers from CB20. Ananasi that are not clearly male should go with the normal (female) attribute modifiers. '''Claws and bite: '''Lilan and Pithus are considered to have the equivalent of claws (the sharp ends of their spider-limbs) and may use such attacks (not all limbs are required to have them, but some will). The claws does Strength +2 aggravated damage in both forms. Their bite does Strength +1 aggravated damage in Lilian Strength +3 aggravated damage in Pithus, and Strength lethal in Homid (the Ananasi choose whenever or not to inject venom). This was omitted from CB20. '''Speech: Ananasi are capable of human speach in Homid, Araenid and Lilian (though it may sound like a hissing mockery in Lilian), and capable of using their own language in Lilian, Pithus and Crawlering, a language that all Ananasi instinctively know. Shifting form: Unlike other Fera, the forms of an Ananasi do not come in a specific order. They can shift directly from any form to any other (it takes one turn, unless a Blood Point is spent to shift instantly). Only one success at the Stamina + Primal-Urge roll is required for any shift, no matter the start and goal forms. This is stated in CB20, but is very easy to miss. The difficulty to shift in Homid, Lilian or Crawlerling is difficulty 6, while shifting in Pithus or Araneid is difficulty 7. This was missing from CB20. No roll or spending of Blood Points is required to reflexive instant shift to Breed form. Crawlerling Form is considered Breed form for Arachnid Ananasi for this purpose, whom reverts to this form automatically if falling unconscious. The Crawlerling Form The Crawlerling form is very hard to grasp and only Breedbook Ananasi goes into any detail about it. Assign leaders: The Ananasi decide each time she shifts into this form which and how many spiders are leaders, and what memories are kept in which one. Most Ananasi have a default set of leaders with predetermined sets of memories. Any number from one to ten works just fine, but over this there is a +1 difficulty on all Perception and Willpower rolls for each extra leader, and a +1 difficulty on all Wits rolls for every two extra leaders. This was omitted from CB20. Taking damage: Once in Crawlerling form the Ananasi does not take health levels when damaged, but individual spiders are instead killed. Losing drones just cause loosing mass, but with enough mass lost the ability to shift form is lost. For each leader that dies, the memories stored in that one is lost forever. At the storyteller's discretion this might include Ability dots, Gifts, or even basic motor functions like how to control the bladder. If all leaders are killed, the Ananasi is reduced to a collection of spiders that will go their separate ways and live normal spider lives. What really is dangerous in this form are things that causes damage over a large area, and especially fire. Strong pesticides also causes serious problem (but not in the other forms, at least not more than for other Fera). Ignore all effects of lost health levels while in Crawlerling. Even an Ananasi that would be Incapacitated in her other forms will be just fine in her Crawlerling form. Gifts and rites: Unless otherwise specified, an Ananasi in Crawlerling can use these just fine. Healing damage: An Ananasi in Crawlerling does not truly heal. But neither does an Ananasi in this form truly suffer from wounds taken in other forms (ignore wound penalties while in Crawlerling). The mass from lost drones are replaced by eating animal protein (usually insects, but especially spiders as that is far more effective). Once the spiders collectively have reached enough mass, the Ananasi can once again shift to other forms. An Ananasi can not spend blood points in this form to heal health levels in this form. Neither does she heal naturally, and she can't even be healed with Gifts. She will therefore be just as wounded when returning to another form as when shifted. She may however regain both lost Gnosis and Blood points, just as in other forms. Unconscious Archanids: '''If an Archanid Ananasi fall unconscious she will automatically assume this form, and have her usual set of leaders, with their usual assigned sets of memories. If she does not have a usual set of leader, there will be only one single leader (with all memories). In this form she will be completely aware and unharmed, but generally it a good idea is to escape. Note that Ananasi (like other shapeshifters) who simply fall asleep usually remain in the current form. '''Downtime: If an Ananasi spreads out her consciousness through the entire mass of Crawlerling she will lose herself to the instincts and act like lots of individual spiders, with the only real difference that they will remain in the general area and will not attack one another. The Ananasi will reform when a simple rite wake her up, Queen Ananasa calls her to service, or she instinctively feels that her "vacation" is over. About half of all Ananasi are slumbering like this at any given time. Combat: Crawlerling is not meant for combat. Just about any attack from any kind of weapon will instantly kill any spider (if necessary think of each spider as having a single health level, and not being able to soak). They can however use two kinds of attacks; engulf, and injection. The normal Bite attack do not really apply in this form. While the venom of each individual spider is weak, a lot of spiders can bite collectively injecting a large amount of venom. If as many spiders that can fit bite a single individual all inject, assume combined the potency to be comparable to the venom in Pithus form (counts as a having spent a dosage in the other forms). The engulf maneuver do Strength in lethal damage. This is however not the Strength 0 in the Crawlerling form, but the unmodified (Homid) level that is used for this purpose. An Ananasi who engage in this maneuver can't exactly dodge attacks, but the opponent can usually at most kill a few spiders per attack. A swarmed opponent are open for the injection maneuver, but unless the Ananasi spend a blood point for an extra action or slit her actions to two attacks, the engulf maneuver is temporary broken, and the opponent can breath. Partial transformation: It is possible for an Ananasi to partially transform into Crawlerling, just like to any other form, as per the usual rules. Just like other transformation to and from Crawlerling this induces full Delirium in humans, and it is very unsettling even for many supernatural creatures. This can for example be that an Ananasi transforms her arm into a number of spiders of a mass roughly equal to the mass of the arm, transform her jaw into a single quite large spider, or a bit of blood to a few small spiders. If this "mini Crawlerling" is to do something a bit more sophisticated a bit away or in another room, one or two leaders must also be created to coordinate the drones. Most (at least three quarters) of the Ananasi's consciousness and memories must remain in her main body. If most of the spiders that composes the limb are killed, it is in affect amputated, though it may be healed back as if it was aggravated damage. It is even possible to transform for the head, neck, torso or abdomen to Crawlerling in this way, though extremely risky, because if those most of those spiders should die, the Ananasi is most likely killed instantly, not to mention how hard it is to maneuver when missing the head or being "cut" in two parts like that. The other way around is also possible, that the Ananasi in Crawlerling manifest a hand, limb or even head from any of the other forms. At least one leader must be part of this transformation to control such body part. These manifested body parts are however quite useless, as the Crawlerling form is to weak to move it around. A manifested human mouth may however speak, or bite something that is placed between the jaws, a manifested hand might turn a knob, and a manifested head can pretend to be dead. A new start: An Ananasi who in Crawlerling has been reduced to just a few spiders have the option to try to eat her way into the brain of a living (preferable unconscious) human, and from there eat the body from the inside. If the process succeeds the Ananasi will assume the form of the human she ate as her new Homid form (including age, gender, etc), and she will even have the memories of the human she ate (though they are a bit muted and she usually can distinguish them from her own). The process costs the Ananasi one permanent dot of Gnosis. Queen Ananasa's blessing is required for this process to work, and she will deny it to those she feels abuses it. Venom Venom glands: Ananasi in Homid have venom glands, but these are quite small and the venom is weak. The Merit Venomous provides the same kind of venom glands as Pithus (and strength of the venom), not only in Homid but also in Lilian, as well as the ability to use Gifts relying on venom in Homid form, something that is otherwise not possible. The rule texts in the description of Venom and for the Merit are unclear on this in CB20. An Ananasi usually only have two to three doses of venom and it takes a day to replenish each dose, but eating lots of venomous spiders replenish it a lot quicker. Type of venom: The exact effects of the venom is left to the player and storyteller for each individual Ananasi, as different spiders have very different types of venom and it might be affected by the Ananasi's aspect and faction. Some examples are venom that paralyses, tranquilizes, causes necrosis, cramps, bleeding from orifices, fever, nausea, headaches, extreme pain, sever rashes, or even an euphoric ecstasy similar to the Kiss of the bite of a Kindred, or even do two or three of these things at the same time. Given enough time to experiment and consume a large quantity of spiders of appropriate species, an Ananasi might even be able to change the composition of her venom. Strength of the venom: 'As a general guideline a full dosage of venom given in Pithus form should quickly kill or in some way quickly incapacitate a healthy human for many hours. The Ananasi may of course inject less for a milder effect. In Lilian the effect is diluted, so it should slowly kill or cripple a healthy humans for a few hours. In Homid the effect is even more diluted, so it is unlikely to kill, but if it does, is it takes a long time, or it seriously inconvenience a healthy human for about an hour. The bite of a single spider in Crawlerling is very unlikely to kill, but might inconvenience a healthy human for about half an hour. This however varies widely. And if more spiders bite the effect is more powerful, up to the same strength as in Pithus is the Crawlerling form is biting with as many as it can fit on a person. Without medical assistance a human might never recover from the venom completely. '''Resistance: '''Supernatural creatures are generally very resistant, if not completely immune, to the usual effects of the venom (but not to Gifts that utilizes the venom). A general guideline is to cut the effects and duration in half, and that any damage is lethal rather than aggravated, and no long term effects. There might however be exceptions, for example a venom that causes blood clots might cause a vampire to loose blood point. Ananasi are not immune to the venom of each other, nor to the venom of Nagah. Blood Ananasi uses blood instead of Rage, but unless otherwise specified they can ''not us it the same way. '''Spending blood: Ananasi may only gain one extra action per turn by spending blood, may only heal one level of bashing or lethal damage per turn by spending blood, and may only use one Blood Point per turn to create great webs (really large webs takes several Blood Points, and therefor several turns). Ananasi may only use blood to one effect per turn. This in affect limit them to spending one blood point per turn, except for the purpose using a gift that requires more to activate. This was a bit unclear in CB20, but is stated clearly in older sources. Activating the Gift Blood Pump completely removes all these limitations for the rest of the scene (both numbers of Blood Points, and the number of types of effects), though it does not remove the limitation that Gnosis and Blood Points can't be spent in the same turn. Feeding on blood: '''Ananasi gains Blood Points from blood more dependent on the volume than the quality or type, as long as it is warm blooded (mammal or bird). That means that a pint of blood from a human, a cow, an ostrich, and a Garou is worth the same to the Ananasi (one Blood Point), even though they may taste different. An Ananasi does not gain any blood points from drinking the blood of another Ananasi, a vampire, revenant or the plasm of a manifested ghost. Blood from mages, other Fera, changelings and even demons in human form are just normal human blood to them. Blood from other animals such as reptiles, fish, arthropods, molluscs and others also works, though a larger quantity is required for the same amount of Blood Points, and many Ananasi do not like the taste. Others actually prefers the blood of insects and/or spiders. Some develop a taste for human blood, or even for the blood of Fera. This was unclear in older sources, but made clear in CB20. Blood bags, blood soup and even undercooked stakes also provide blood points, though the less fresh, less fluid, and more cocked it is, the less effective it is, so a large quantity is needed for a single blood point. '''Out of blood: Most Ananasi that have spent all their blood points feel just fine. Their skin does not become pale, as it is not their normal ichor (blood) in their veins they use, but blood they have ingested. Though they do feel a thirst for blood, they can easily keep that at bay, and can theoretically go decades without blood without any problems. They simply can't use any more blood until they have ingested more. What they do need is food and drink, just like any other living creatures, or they will starve or die of thirst. All Ananasi do feel an irresistible need for warm blood one time in their life, around the time for their first change, though most will find an opportunity to taste a little bit of it in a controlled way out of intellectual curiosity, rather than having to kill an animal or person in a blood crazed fury in order to get it. Ananasi and Vampires Unless otherwise specified Ananasi can not use their blood the same way Kindred or Kuei-Jin can. Though most Ananasi have nothing at all to do with vampires, though some interact with them quite a lot, and some even pretend to be vampires. Drinking Kindred vitae or Kuei-Jin blood: '''Ananasi are immune to all direct affects of Kindred vitae (blood): They can not become ghouls (they gain no benefits), are immune to being blood bounded and can not be embraced (they simply die). The blood of vampires does not give them any nourishment, it feels disgusting to taste and an ananasi that tries to drink blood from a vampire is most likely to throw up. Some Ananasi (mostly Hatar) instead enjoy the taste, but still gain no benefits, nor side effects, and might still throw up later. Blood from ghouls do function as normal human blood, but do taste quite bad. Ananasi are just as vulnerable to other affects of vampiric blood (such as Disciplines) as other creatures. '''Drinking Ananasi ichor: A vampire that tastes the somewhat purple ichor (blood) from an Ananasi will find it has a revolting and alien taste. If that isn't discouraging enough actually drinking it cases most to throw up. This makes it extremely hard to classify (aside from that it definitely isn't vampire blood, nor normal human blood, in fact it hardly tastes or feels like blood at all to a vampire). If the vampire should manage to keep it down, a Kindred will find it potent to the same degree as with blood from other shapeshifters, but without any particular side effects from drinking it, and a Kuei-Jin will find in nourishing as if it was ordinary human blood. Ichor drained from an Ananasi does not drain her blood point, but rather Health levels, as with most living creatures. This counts as lethal damage. The reason for this is that an Ananasi does not store the blood points in her own ichor, but rather in her digestive system. An Ananasi may heal damage caused this way this as any other. Ananasi are also immune to the effects of the Kiss of the Kindred (though many are informed and clever enough to pretend the are affected). Pretending to be a vampire: Despite having fangs and being blood drinkers, Ananasi are not vampires in any real meaning of the word. They are living, not undead, they need food, they need to breath, etc, in fact they don't actually need blood at all, and they do not have any of the weaknesses of vampires. They do not register as something related to neither Kindred or Kuei-Jin, nor werewolves, to most tests vampires (and their servants) can do, but rather as either mortals or something else (and quite strange). The fangs of an Ananasi in Homid at closer inspection look nothing like the usual fangs of vampires, as they are in fact hollow claws of their spider mandibles that they can retract to hide or extend to display (and bite). An Ananasi can't lick to close the tiny puncture wounds from their prey, but the marks are so small they in most cases will heal within a couple of minutes. Their bite do not give a sense of euphoria like the Kiss (there are exceptions). Vampires are immune to most kinds of venom of Ananasi. Despite all this, most vampires seem to accept an Ananasi as a fellow Kindred or Kuei-Jin (though a strange one)[7] given the slightest excuse to do so, if the Ananasi have the Gift Wyrmling Kinship (level 1 Hatar Gift). As vampires are not direct servants of the Wyrm and more individualistic, they are not however as ready to directly accept an Ananasi as an ally as other Wyrm-creatures would, though the Gift's usual -2 in difficulty on social rolls against them do apply otherwise. Wyrmling Kinship is however not effective against the most humane Kindred (Humanity 7+) or enlightened Kuei-Jin (Dharma 7+). Against such vampires (or without this Gift), it is much more difficult for an Ananasi to pretend to be a vampire. The few vampires who actually knows about the Ananasi, and those with an investigating scientific mindset, are also much less likely to be fooled. Obedience The list of sample behavior for the Obedience Renown was left out of CB20. It should read: Falling to the Wyrm Ananasi are just as likely to fall or to resist being corrupted by the Wyrm as other Fera. Hatar may have a better chance to resist, but they are also tempted much more, so overall it cancels out. Normal Ananasi, not even Hatar, do not smell of the Wyrm, nor register as Wyrm-creatures to any test (no more than other Fera), unless they truly have fallen. This however does not stop the suspicions from other Fera, and especially not from the Garou. Most of the eastern type of Ananasi, the Kumo, do serve the Wyrm (the corruption), but have not totally given over their minds and souls, so even most of them do not smell of the Wyrm. Numbers It is very easy to get the impression that Ananasi are very rare. Most Fera are of the impression that they are next to extinct. They are in fact most likely the most numerous of all shapeshifters (including Garou), and are perhaps as many as all of the others put together. They are however usually far apart, and most of them live their lives only knowing of a few other Ananasi, and rarely see even those. Some "hibernate" spread out in their Crawlerling form, some live in the Umbra, some in cities, towns or villages, some in the wild, some in Wyrm-infested areas, some are more nomadic. Some infiltrate vampire societies, or hives of Wyrm-creatures, some live decades as ordinary humans, some work with other Ananasi, or with other Fera, and some have hardly any contact with others at all. The Umbra and Spirits It is easy to get the impression that Weaver-spirits are allies of the Ananasi. The opposite is actually true. The more powerful and intelligent Weaver-spirits know that Ananasi actually work against the Weaver's designs. However, most Weaver-spirits, even powerful ones, tend to mistake Ananasi (especially the Tenere) for servants of the Weaver. In their Pithus and Crawlerling forms in the Umbra, most spirits will mistake Ananasi in their Pithus or Crawerling forms to be spider spirits, unless the Ananasi give them a reason to not think that (like shifting form). Weaver-spirits will simply mistake Ananasi for being just other Weaver-spirits, Banes are likely to assume Ananasi in Pithus or Crawerling to be another kind of Wyrm-spirits (if they have the Gift Wyrmling Kinship), while other spirits often take them for "normal" spider spirits. Queen Ananasa is usually the only one who teaches an Ananasi all Gifts she will ever know. But the queen has not banned her children from learning Gifts from spirits, it is just that most Ananasi would not even consider that, and anyway, many spirits would not teach an Ananasi a Gift. Hatar and Kumo are the most likely to learn Gifts from spirits, and that is mostly from banes and mad spirits. Queen Ananasa as a totem An Ananasi can't ever have totem spirit other than Queen Ananasa. She might cast out an individual Ananasi from her grace (and stop teaching it Gifts and grant the bonuses in the Sylie) and refuse to listen to pleas of mercy and acts of redemption, but she will never relinquish one of her children to another. Not even the renegade Kumo in the east can have a totem spirit. An Ananasi who joins a group of Ananasi or even a mixed group of Fera is not considered to have broken the decree to not join a pack. That ban is only for Ovid who follow her, not her own children. References